AnthroChat's network charter/mission statement

Unmoderated Transmission of Data


AnthroChat is founded on the principal that IRC networks are an
unfiltered, non-moderated transport medium in general.  As such, the
operators of the network's servers are neither responsible for the content
being relayed by the servers nor the actions of their users.  Server
operators are only responsible for maintaining continuous connectivity to
the network.  Mediation and moderation of content are the responsibility
of those holding specific conversations and the operators of individual
channels.  If a server administrator also happens to be a channel
operator, they will only use commands which are available to all users on
the network when moderating their channel.

Administrators are often approached by users when they deem another user
as a nuisance, troublemaker, or someone who is posting "inappropriate
content".  It usually comes with an expectation that the troublemaker will
have action taken toward them which is outside of the capabilities of any
normal user, such as a network-wide ban.  AnthroChat administrators simply
will not take such actions, not out of laziness, which is often how it is
perceived, but out of experience.  It has been determined through years of
trial and error that that approach causes more problems than it solves.
This is mainly because the admins are then perceived to be the judge,
jury, and police, presiding over what is considered "right and wrong"
content on the network; a practice otherwise known as censorship.

AnthroChat administrators do their best to be friendly and approachable,
but will only help users to help themselves when it comes to moderation of
content.  Most times, admins will suggest simply ignoring troublemakers,
either technically, with /ignore, or mentally.  For more persistent
nuisances, more detailed technical tools will be outlined and suggested.



Openness in Regards to Network Operations


AnthroChat administration is open to suggestions from users in regards to
features, operation, and policies of the network.  If anyone has a
suggestion, they're encouraged to post it to our "Hiss and Purr" forum on
the web site.  All suggestions will be considered, and those which are
deemed practical, useful, and doable will be put on our todo list.

AnthroChat administrators will do their best to make available any details
of discussions of network operations and proposed updates or changes to
features, operation, and policies.  If a user approaches an admin with
questions regarding current events, the administrators shall provide as
detailed a response as the user is seeking.  In other words, we will make
every attempt to be honest, up front, and non-withholding of information
when it comes to current network-related discussions.  Discussions held on
the administrator mailing list which deal with such operational procedures
will be made publicly available if requested.



Reliable Connectivity


All of AnthroChat's servers are required to be hosted in commercial
Internet hosting facilities with redundant power and connectivity.  This
requirement is made in attempt to provide extra reliability.  It is not
made because of bandwidth usage.  IRC is typically very low bandwidth, but
everyone is painfully aware when there's a netsplit.  It's our hope that
having these redundancy requirements will minimize the frequency or
duration of splits.  Being a fact of life for IRC networks, in general,
netsplits will happen.  When they do, and an admin is either directly
responsible for causing it, or they're aware of why it happened, as a
courtesy to our users, a quick global message will be sent to alert the
users as to the cause.



Open Nickname and Channel Registration


AnthroChat's services system is completely open and accepting nickname and
channel registrations without the need of administrator intervention.
There's no approval process for registering a channel.  We do ask that our
users be reasonable with the number of channels of which any particular
user is a founder, though, because nobody likes an IRC cybersquatter.



Vanity Hostmasks

The IRC services package that is being used on AnthroChat allows for users
to have their own, custom cloaked hostmask.  As a courtesy to our users,
AnthroChat administrators will assign a custom hostmask to anyone who asks
for one.  It can be set to be anything that the user requests, but shall
only be set, at most, once per month per user.  Requests for hostmasks from
newly-registered nicknames will be put on hold until the nickname has been
registered for seven days or more.  If the hostmask is being used in order 
to dodge bans, if a multiple registered user accounts are determined to
be registered by the same person for the purpose of having multiple vanity
hostmasks, or vanity hostmasks are being used to impersonate other users,
the admins will no longer extend the courtesy of having a vanity hostmask 
to that person.  Receiving a vanity hostmask is a privilege, not a right.